1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing lures, and in particular, to a soft plastic jerkbait lure comprising a tandem hook-rig assembly and a method of rigging same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The sport of fishing with artificial lures for game fish, such as large mouth bass, small mouth bass, pike, walleye, and a variety of saltwater game fish, such as, striped bass and bluefish, is a highly popularized sport. Much money is spent each year on a variety of equipment, lures, boats and other gear that is used and/or needed in fishing. The popularity of fishing is evidenced by numerous fishing-related publications, fishing-related television programming, fishing-related internet websites, products, and the popularity of amateur and professional tournaments.
A large variety of lures have been designed and manufactured to assist the catching of fish, such as bass, bluefish and tuna. These lures are made in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, textures and weights and are made from a whole range of materials, from metals, to plastics and to soft plastics and rubbers. Indeed, the plethora of different lures known in the art are reflective of the great variety of different fishing applications and techniques that are available and utilized in the sport of fishing. The immense variety of these applications and techniques in turn reflect the great variety of target fish, weather conditions, water conditions (e.g. fresh water, salt water, stream water, estuary water, shallow or deep water), and geographical locations that may exist in any given fishing experience. For example, a fisherman interested in “pulling” bass may choose from variety of “topwater” and “subsurface” techniques and use a variety of available lures, including commonly known lures such as buzzbaits (e.g. the Squeaky Dolphin Buzz), walking baits (e.g. the Zara Spook, the Gilmore Oddball, the MirroLure Top Dog), poppers (e.g. Argoblast Hula Popper), propeller ripping bait (e.g. the Gilmore Jumper, the Gilmore Go Getter, the Hedden Bay Torpedo, and the Smithwick Devil's Horse), soft plastic jerk baits (e.g. the Lunker City Slug-Go, the Bass Assassin), and crankbaits (e.g. the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap and the Cordell Hot Spot).
It is generally appreciated to the skilled artisan that lures are used to catch fish by mimicking bait (living or dead organism) in shape, size, smell, sound, appearance and action. The closer the action and appearance of the lure to the actual bait it is imitating, the more effective lure will generally be at catching fish. The fishing lure industry is constantly refining and improving fishing lures to better mimic the shape, size, smell, sound, appearance, color and action of bait in order to allow fishermen to be successful. Sight and appearance play an important role, if not the most important role, in fish feeding habits, and fishermen are constantly seeking better and ever more effective lures.
One of the main areas of emphasis in recent years, especially in the area of bass fishing, has been the growing popularity of large soft plastic baits, also known as large soft jerk baits which reflects the technique typically used in fishing with such lures, i.e. propelling the lure with short jerking motions. These types of lures have become especially popular with many striped bass fisherman all over. However, the large soft jerk baits currently available in the art are at a significant disadvantage in that they are often time consuming, tedious and difficult to rig. As a result, such lures often lack consistency in how they are joined to a hook system. And, from the inconsistency stems fishing lures that do not “swim” or propel through the water in a proper manner. For example, an improperly rigged lure might be unable to swim straight, may spin undesirably, may swim in only one direction, or may be forced undesirably to the surface. Such problems result in the ineffectiveness of the lure, and in particular, the inability of the lure to catch the fish for which it is intended.
The large soft jerk lures currently in the art are typically configured with one or more hooks, and most typically are rigged to have one or two hooks. In most cases, a traditional worm hook is used to rig the lure. The rigging processes used on these known lures, however, are tedious and time consuming and lead, as mentioned above, to inconsistent and underperforming lures. For example, a large soft jerk lure having two hooks (a lead hook and a rear hook) is typically rigged by the steps including: (1) tying rear hook to fishing line, (2) threading fishing line through specially designed rigging needle, (3) running rigging needle through the center of the fishing lure, (4) pulling the line attached to the rear hook so that it enters the body of the fishing lure, (5) tying the lead hook to the running line using half hitches, (6) gluing the half hitches to the hook to prevent slipping, (7) drying the glue to cure, and (8) inserting the hook into the center of the fishing lure. Such known rigging processes can take upwards of ten minutes for each lure, a span of time which can easily represent a lost opportunity to a fisherman.
An additional point is that because of the nature of the currently used rigging process, the reusability of the lure components is limited. In particular, in a situation where the lure soft plastic body becomes ripped or torn due to natural wear and tear, a new hook system must be constructed “from scratch” according to the above steps since the securement of the old hook assembly with glue and ties effectively makes it too difficult to remove and reuse.
A further disadvantage of the currently available large soft jerk lures is their inconvenience. In particular, the tedious and difficult nature of the currently used rigging system makes it burdensome to construct new lures, especially while in the midst of an actual fishing trip. In particular, it is often very cumbersome to a fisherman to have to practice the above steps, including manipulating the adhesive, the sharp rigging needles and the performing the precise nature of the rigging steps while in the midst of a fishing excursion, e.g. dealing with unfavorable weather conditions, the motion of a boat, or lack of flat surfaces on a rocky shoreline.
Accordingly, an improved large soft jerk bait lure that cures the above drawbacks and disadvantages is desired and would be an advance in the art.